There's More Than One Person For Each Of Us
by Gee-KayLady
Summary: Jesse Cardoza is a lonely Miami cop forever mourning the loss of his wife Tracy. But when he meet domestic violence victim Sarah Pickering, he begins to realise that sometimes there's more than one person for each of us.
1. Chapter 1

**A fic about Jesse Cardoza and a girl he met after the death of his wife when she was attacked by her escaped convict ex-husband. He hacked her with a kitchen knife and luckily, because she turned to run, only left her with a graze to the side of her head. Jesse found her and he and the team apprehended her ex. This fic takes place 4 days later when she comes out of the hospital and he greets her to see if she will testify and check up on her.**

_***Dream***_

_He was everywhere, and everything hurt. Sarah Pickering's entire being was on fire, pain searing and pulsating through her with every heartbeat. And then came his cold laugh from above. He was here and there was no knowing what he would do to her. She tried to scream but her throat was dry. She couldn't make a sound. No one would hear her. _

"_No one cares about you, you useless piece of garbage. No man will ever love you again you ugly whore. Worthless, shameless, pathetic, disgusting!" His insults reverberated and rebounded of the sides of her skull and came pounding back on her brain so she heard them multiple times. Tears spilled down her face, or was it blood? He had hit her so many times she couldn't tell anymore. The heavy chains around her wrists restrained her. She couldn't fight back or defend herself._

_THWACK!_

_His fist collided with her jaw again with such force that the cracking of her jaw echoed off of the walls concealing them from the world. She took another hit, then another, then another, then another. Then, there was a swish as he went for her with the cleaver he had grabbed from her kitchen when he had abducted her. She gathered all her strength and stood. She could barely stand due to the lack of balance she had with her hands chained behind her back. James lifted the blade again; Sarah reacted as fast as she could and turned to run. Then there was a thud as it collided with her head. She shuddered as she felt warm wetness of blood cover her. Her head was so overwhelmed that she collapsed. Her eyelids dropped as she succumbed to the pain, slipping away, waiting to die. _

_Suddenly there was warmth and light showered upon her as the door to the dingy warehouse was forced open and shouts from law enforcement filled Sarah's ears. The clinking of cuffs around her captor's wrists was like heaven. But still, she was slipping away. Then, a man, the last thing she saw. He ran up to her, his brown eyes colliding with her blue ones for just a moment._

"_Miss, Miss? Hang on, Miss, help is on the way. We need Rescue in here now!"_

_And then, it all faded._

Sarah's eyes snapped open in what seemed like seconds after she had closed them. She was in the hospital, the light reflecting of the white and steel room hurting her eyes at first, telling her she had been there for a while. A calendar on the wall told her it had been 4 days since she had been kidnapped and attacked by her escaped prisoner ex-husband. Then the nurse came in, she smiled when she saw Sarah sitting up and looking around.

"Oh, Ms. Pickering." She said cheerily, "It's good to see you awake. You have a visitor."

Sarah looked confused. None of her family was in Miami. But still, she nodded her consent and the nurse once again disappeared to fetch her unknown guest.

Moments later, a kind looking red-headed man who looked about 50 odd walked into the room. He held his sunglasses in both hands gingerly between each index finger and thumb. He walked right the way up to the side of the bed next to Sarah and spoke no higher than a whisper.

"Ms. Pickering, I'm Lieutenant Horatio Caine I'm with the crime lab. We have your ex-husband in custody and I just came to ask: how are you feeling?"

"You're one of the ones that found me?" she asked warily.

"That's right." The man smiled kindly.

"Thank you." Sarah offered, feeling obliged to say so. A few moments of silence passed then Horatio spoke again.

"Ms. Pickering-"

"Sarah." She cut across him.

"Sarah." He corrected himself before continuing, "Sarah my team and I were wondering if we could count on you to testify against James?"

Sarah looked away. She was so scared still. How would testifying help her if he escaped again? Horatio read her expression and nodded in understanding. This had happened a lot to him. A woman too scared to testify because she's afraid he'll come after her if she does. He turned to leave Sarah in peace, but her voice stopped him.

"Wait." She called, but quietly, "I'll think about it. And I'll let you know soon."

Horatio smiled at Sarah's bravery.

"Don't hesitate to call. Morning noon or night. Do you understand, Sarah?" he asked. Sarah smiled and nodded. Horatio beamed and tilted his head in farewell before leaving swiftly. He then walked up to the nurse.

"When is Sarah Pickering due for release?" he asked. The nurse flipped over a few papers on her clipboard and found the correct name.

"At 4:00 today due to her excellent progress." She read off of the sheet. Horatio smiled his gratitude as the nurse went into Sarah's room and pulled out his cell phone.

"Jesse? It's Horatio. I need you at Dade General at 4:00 to meet the victim in the Pollock case, Sarah Pickering."

"You said 4:00?"Came Jesse's reply.

"4:00pm is when she's being released." Horatio confirmed.

"I'll be there." Jesse said confidently and Horatio snapped his phone shut before striding out of the hospital to his large, departmental hummer. As he drove away, he felt a swelling sense of pity for Sarah. Married to a violent man, the one time she tried to escape, he attacked her and got sentenced to 5 years. Then he escapes 2 years later and comes straight after her just when she began to make it work. It reminded him of a member of his own team: Natalia Boa Vista. He suddenly wondered if she would be ok working this case with the similarity to her own life. With one hand on the steering wheel, he snapped his phone open again and called Natalia.

"Boa Vista." Natalia said down the phone as she picked up.

"Natalia, its Horatio. Um- I was just wondering if we had a slam dunk on the Pollock case." Horatio covered.

"Actually I was just about to call you. I ran the DNA of the blood we found in her apartment and it doesn't belong to Sarah Pickering or James Pollock." Natalia continued. Horatio smiled as he knew Natalia would be fine, but still was confused as to the existence of the third profile.

"Did you run the blood through CODIS?" he questioned.

"Twice," Natalia said confidently, "and the blood didn't hit. Also I can confirm that the other profile isn't familial to Sarah or Pollock but get this: the DNA profile is female."

"So James Pollock had a female partner in the kidnapping?" Horatio checked.

"That's what it looks like. I've ruled out prior accident with someone else because the blood was coagulated but not brown indicating it was pre-existing but only about 2-4 hours before we got there." Natalia showed off her intellectual flair.

"2-4 hours? The 9-1-1 call from the worried neighbour came about 3 hours after the attack so that's consistent. Nice work Miss. Boa Vista, keep me posted." Horatio thanked before snapping his phone shut again.

At 4:00 Jesse was, as he said he would be, outside Dade General Hospital. He wondered what Sarah would look like now that she wasn't covered in blood. He wondered if he would even recognise her. Then he realised he was panicking too much as she descended the hospital steps. The bruises on her face told him that this was definitely Sarah Pickering. But now, she looked almost beautiful. Well, she would've been before the bruises were there and she would be after they had healed. She had bright blonde hair that she had pulled back into a ponytail to hide the bit that the doctors had shaved back to get to the cut caused by the cleaver. She saw the CSI hummer and approached it, squinting as the sun was in her eyes, but as she got closer, she realised it wasn't the Lieutenant.

"Sarah Pickering?" Jesse asked just to confirm. Sarah nodded. Then, her eyes focused on his and she recognised them immediately as the brown ones that had looked down on her when they found her.

"You're the one!" she spoke.

"Excuse me?" Jesse responded, confused as he looked at the finger she was pointing at him.

"You're the one that found me, aren't you?" she queried. Jesse smiled and nodded.

"That's me." He said. Then his face fell out of his smile as he remembered why he was there.

"My name is Jesse Cardoza and I need to know if you've decided whether or not to testify against your ex-husband."

Sarah looked uneasy and Jesse nodded in understanding.

"You must think I'm awful." Sarah sighed and she looked away. Jesse placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Not at all, Ms. Pickering. This is scary stuff. I understand completely." He muttered so only she could hear him. She nodded but thought surely he could never really understand. She raised her head to him and smiled gratefully. He returned the caring gesture and held his other hand open to his car.

"Do you need a ride home?" he asked. She looked at him with a confused stare.

"Isn't it still a crime scene?" she inquired. Jesse shook his head.

"Nope. We got everything we needed and your house has been released and cleaned." He beamed kindly. Sarah grinned brightly and nodded her head.

"All the same, I think I may put it on the market. I don't think I can live there anymore." She murmured. Jesse identified with that. He had felt the same way when his house in L.A had been released after his wife's murder. That's partly why he moved back down to Miami. Sarah walked around to the passenger side of the car and clambered in. Jesse got into the driver's seat and started the car. The hummer roared into life and Sarah jumped slightly, Jesse noticed.

"You ok?" he questioned with concern. Sarah nodded her startled head quickly and Jesse pulled out of the visitor's car park.

When the hummer pulled up outside her house, Sarah trembled. She kept thinking about that day. The window that had been smashed had been boarded over but not replaced but the lock on the front door had been. Jesse handed her the purse they'd found still in the evidence bag and gave her a new key for the front door. She nodded to him and then he gave her a sheet of paper.

"This is my number, Sarah. You feel free to call me morning-"

"Morning noon or night. Yeah I know I got that from Lieutenant Caine too." Sarah cut across him and chuckling slightly. It was the first time she had laughed since her attack. She took the paper from Jesse's outstretched hand, lingering for the moment. Just a moment to relish the feel of human contact. Then she withdrew her hand and exited the car. Jesse watched her go, quite hopeful that she'd be fine.

When Sarah opened the door, she couldn't help but cry. The place looked almost the same as how she'd left it at the time of the abduction. The lamp and vase were broken, the sofa cushions were scattered on the floor and the vacuum was over turned. Minus the absence of some things they had taken for evidence of course, the place was so eerie. Sarah ran through the wreckage and threw herself onto her bed. She buried herself in the sheets and closed her eyes, wanting more than anything for the scenes before her eyes to go away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey y'all :P thanks for all your positive comments on my first chapter x here's the next one just for you guys and I hope your new reviews are just as supportive! 3**

The next morning the phone ringing pierced Sarah's ears and forced her awake. She begrudgingly exited the warm refuge of her bed and pressed the tiny device to her ear, her voice scratchy when she greeted whoever was on the other side.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Sarah, its Jesse Cardoza from the crime lab. I'm sorry, is this a bad time?" came the voice from the speaker. Sarah out of instinct began fixing er her and flattening out her clothes, although she knew he couldn't she her.

"Oh, no of course not." She lied. But then again, she owed him her life, so the least she could do was be there when he needed her. "I was just clearing up actually, what do you need?"

"Um, I'm sorry to have to ask you, Sarah as I'm sure you have a lot on your mind at the moment, but would you mind coming down to PD and making a formal statement about your attack?" Jesse asked. There was a silence for a while. Sarah breathed deeply. Then she nodded as proof to herself that this was something she needed to do.

"Yeah. Yes I will." She muttered. Jesse smiled on the other side of the line.

"Great. Can you meet me at PD in about an hour?"

"Of course, I'll be there." She smiled and then she hung up. Jesse put his cell phone back in his pocket and turned back to his team members. Ryan turned to him.

"How is she?" he asked. Jesse nodded.

"I think she's gonna be just fine." He said certainly. Ryan smiled. Natalia still looked uncertain as she looked over the evidence. This included Sarah's clothes she'd been attacked in that the hospital had sent over; they were drenched in blood.

"That poor woman." She mused as she ran a UV light over her once-pink jacket. "She just got her life back and then this asshole does this to her. And I thought my husband was bad."

Ryan walked over to her and patted her shoulder. Jesse nodded sadly as she too turned his attention to the bloodied clothes and the attack weapon: the cleaver, sitting next to them. He put on a pair of orange goggles and looked at the articles as Natalia continued to shine the UV light on them. They then all squinted as they saw small specks of blood around the shoulder of Sarah's jacket. They were less coagulated and on top of the primary bleed.

"Ok so this blood is from the wound Sarah sustained to her shoulder when James Pollock and his accomplice threw her around in her apartment when they abducted her." Ryan said as he circled his finger above the large blood stain.

"Which would make these flecks out of place because they are gravitational drops directly onto her from a distance which means someone else must've been bleeding over her while she lay on the floor." Jesse continued, pointing out the flecks of less coagulated blood.

"And Pollock didn't have mark on him so this must be the blood of the accomplice." Natalia finished as she grabbed a Q-tip and swabbed the specks. Calleigh then walked in with a sad look.

"But even if that is her she's still an unknown. We just ran the blood through all available databases including witness protection. So far this woman doesn't exist." Calleigh sighed. The others all looked disappointed as Natalia put the DNA swab into the centrifuge. Jesse ran his hand over his head with stress.

"There's gotta be some way of getting this woman, I don't want to risk her trying to finish what this guy started." He groaned. All his colleagues nodded in agreement as Natalia looked confuse as the screen bleeped and the results flashed up.

"Ok, this makes less than no sense." She commented.

"What?" Calleigh asked.

"A new DNA profile, not unknown female, not Pollock and not Sarah, male." Natalia read, "Not it CODIS- wait a minute." Her eyes widened as she read off of the screen again, "This DNA may not be form unknown female or James Pollock but it's familial to both unknown female and James Pollock. In fact, we have a paternal and maternal match: this blood is from their son."

Everyone looked stunned at Natalia as she looked back at them, looking just as confused at them.

"This case makes less and less sense as we go." Calleigh remarked, breaking the silence. The others nodded.

"So how do we find this woman and her son if their prints aren't in any database?" Ryan posed as they all thought hard.

"Maybe we can ask Paulette Williams." Calleigh suggested.

"The worried neighbour that called it in?" Jesse verified.

"Yeah," Calleigh confirmed, "Maybe she knows more than she thinks she does, I mean we never really asked her any questions about what happened before she called it in, maybe she saw something that could help us."

"I'll grab Horatio and head back to the Williams house." Natalia offered, taking off her white lab coat and exiting the room. Then, Jesse's phone rang and he pressed it to his ear.

"Cardoza." He greeted.

"Yes, CSI Cardoza this is the front desk at PD there's a woman here by the name of Sarah Pickering, she claims you asked her to come in." came the reply.

"Yeah, tell her I'm on my way down." Jesse spoke before hanging up the phone and taking off his lab coat too.

"Where are you going, Jess?" Calleigh asked.

"Sarah's down in PD to give her statement, which may help us ID these other people." Jesse said as he strolled out of the lab and towards MDPD.

When he got there, the officer at the front desk pointed towards the atrium, where a familiar blonde figure stood staring out of the window. Jesse nodded to the officer and walked over to Sarah, who turned to him when she heard his footsteps approaching her.

"Hi." She smiled, which brightened up her bruised face. One of her eyes was now bloodshot and she had two sections of hair from the front of her head twirled and wrapped around to the back and clipped in place. Again, Jesse figured this was to hide the portion of hair the doctors had shaved away. All in all she looked healthy despite the various lacerations and bruises.

"Hi there, Sarah. I just need to get your statement so why don't we sit down. Jesse gestured to the benches across the hall and ushered Sarah to them and he sat beside her, pad and pen at the ready.

"Now, Sarah before you start I want to tell you we have evidence that two other people were at your house that day other than your ex-husband and both of them were bleeding, can you tell me something about that?" Jesse queried. Sarah thought for a moment.

"I remember I got out of my car, into the house and I saw someone in the kitchen. Then, w-when he turned around I-I saw that it was James. I-I screamed 'what do you want? Why aren't you in prison?' and he just laughed." Her voice trembled as she tapered off for a moment, thinking her. She shut her eyes and squinted hard as she thought; she then opened them and gasped in realisation as Jesse looked at her with concern. Tears prickled at Sarah's eyes as she nodded, "Yes. Yes someone else was there, but I never saw them. They came up fr-from behind and pushed me into the door, they tried to hold my hands behind my back but they weren't very strong so I thought it was a woman." She stuttered as she wiped a tear from her cheek. Jesse held her hand in comfort.

"You were right; we found female blood in your house that wasn't yours on the kitchen doorframe." He said softly. Sarah then nodded determinedly.

"That's right, the doorframe. I p-pushed her b-back to try and f-fight her off and she slipped and hit herself on the doorframe. That's when James smashed the vase on m-my sh-shoulder a-and I was o-on the floor, everything hurt-" Sarah trailed off again and started to sob into her hands and rock herself in her seat. Jesse placed his pad and pen on his lap and wrapped a considerate arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest and stroking her back as she cried.

"It's ok. Sshhh." He kept saying. Once Sarah had calmed down, she straightened up again.

"Then, I-I was bleeding on the floor and I heard someone crying: it was a child. I was drifting in and out of consciousness so I can remember what was said but James hit someone with something and the child screamed." Sarah's eyes squeezed shut again as she tried to remember, "That's the last thing I remember before I came to in the warehouse." She finished, her voice still wobbling. Jesse nodded as he took the notes down and smiled at her.

"Everything you've told me is consistent with what we've found. You're not doing anything wrong, we're gonna catch this other person." Jesse assured her. She smiled at him, tears still glistening in her eyes. She couldn't help feeling very attracted to him. He had been so nice to her and he was, after all, very handsome. She then took a deep breath and got up.

"Is that all you need because I have to get back to cleaning up the mess my ex left me. Story of my life." She smiled, trying to make a joke about it. Jesse chuckled slightly but knew from personal experience that it's hard to make jokes this soon to the incident. He nodded and watched Sarah go. Then, thinking about how much help he wished he had had when his wife's case was open, called out to her again.

"Sarah."

"Yes?" she asked, turning to face him again as she reached the elevator.

"If you need help cleaning up all the mess, call me at any time and I would be glad to help you." He offered. Sarah smiled but shook her head.

"Oh, no I couldn't ask you to do that. You've already done so much for me-"

"Believe me, it's no problem at all," Jesse interrupted, "I know how you feel. Don't hesitate to call."

"Morning, noon or night?" Sarah grinned.

"Morning, noon or night." Jesse repeated with a smiled. Sarah nodded gratefully and then got in the elevator, disappearing from view. Jesse smiled and shook his head, heading back towards the lab. He caught the officer at the desk giving his a look as he passed.

"Not exactly the first date I would've offered." The officer joked.

"Shut up, Hanson, it's not a date." Jesse joked back as he hurried out of PD aand back to the lab.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey there again good too know you've all kept reading and I'm really enjoying writing this one x I'm gonna really get going now with the Jesse/ Sarah story as well as getting you that much closer to finding out who the infamous mother and son are! Tee hee sorry for the suspense and confusion, I just like to picture all your faces when you're like, wha?**

**Also I would like to say hi to my good ol' friend xxElenaGilbertxx aka Maddy keep updating your stories too Madz ol' chum (and the rest of yuz read her stories because they are good) **

**Ok, without further ado, I give you chapter 3 of There's More Than One Person For Each Of Us…**

Back at the crime lab in the layout room, the team were filling in Horatio on what they had discovered when Jesse walked back in, putting his pristine white lab coat back on.

"Guys I got that statement from Sarah. Have we made any progress?" he asked.

"Not so far but we have Paulette Williams on her way." Walter said as he went over the crime scene photos again. Jesse's eyes fell on the picture he had taken of Sarah when she was lying on the floor, bound and bleeding. He scowled and looked away.

"This guy is sick, we need to throw his ass in jail and throw away the key." He commented looking over the other photos of the Pickering house.

"Yeah but we also need to make sure that the unknown female joins him, Calleigh please." Horatio said.

"Well we don't have anything else to go on that could help us identify her we have no prints or DNA in any database and no trace that could definitively link us to anyone other than Pollock in that house." Calleigh distressed as the others all fell silent. Horatio fingered the chains that had bound Sarah with his gloved hand.

"What did Sarah say about her female assailant in her statement?" Horatio inquired to Jesse.

"She said that she never saw her, but she tried to grab her hands and tie them together behind her, but she wasn't very strong, so she broke free and slammed her into the kitchen doorframe which was the cause of her blood deposit." Jesse explained as Horatio continued to eye the chains.

"She said that the female assailant tried to tie her up." He repeated as he mused the cold metal links, "Well maybe, maybe she did tie her up with these after she was knocked out, you see this," Horatio pointed to something caught between the links, "This is a tiny fibre of torn fabric between these links here." The team ascended on it quickly as Horatio peeled off his gloves, took off his lab coat and left. As the Walter took the fibre to Travers in Trace, Horatio took a phone call.

"This is Horatio." He greeted.

"This is the front desk, Paulette Williams is here to see you and I have two officers escorting her to interrogation room 2 one of which is Sergeant Tripp." The officer spoke.

"Thank you." Horatio finished before hanging up and walking back to the layout room. "Jesse, Ms. Williams just arrived and I need you in the interrogation with me." He spoke. Jesse nodded and took off his coat and gloves, following his red headed boss to the interrogation room.

"When they got there, brunette Ms. Williams sat behind the normal glass desk looking as edgy as she had the day she had called in the incident. She had been crying that much was obvious from the red, puffy bits under her eyes. Her hands were running over each other and her fingers twiddling each other as she sat down. She was looking around everywhere and breathing deeply. As a well-trained CSI, both Horatio and Jesse knew that this meant she was hiding something, or rather, was scared of something. Either one meant she knew more than she had said. The two CSI's entered the room where Tripp stood waiting of them.

"Ms. Williams I'm Horatio Caine." He introduced.

"Yeah I remember." Paulette nodded tucking her hair behind her ears, her hands and arms trembling for something else to do. She wrapped them around and her hands gripped her upper arms.

"We have discovered that James Pollock was not the only person who took part in the abduction and brutal assault of Sarah Pickering." Horatio continued. Paulette's mouth dropped open.

"T-there was someone else?" she asked.

"Yes, there was someone else." Horatio confirmed.

"A woman." Jesse continued and Paulette then looked a little more uptight as she realised where they were going with this information.

"Y-you think that I helped that monster hurt Sarah?" she asked with the normal accusee offence.

"Did you?" Horatio inquired honestly. Paulette shook her head furiously."

"No, I would never hurt Sarah, she's a friend." She stammered.

"Do you have a son, Ms. Williams?" Horatio asked. She looked at him, confused.

"N-no I don't have children. It's actually one of the reasons Sarah and I are such good friends." She then smiled and looked at her hands, "she and I are the only two people in that neighbourhood that don't have a family. At the annual block parties we would sit out to the side and she'd tell me how much she wished she had children. I still can't believe this happened to her. Everybody loves her, especially the neighbourhood children." She explained.

"Did you see anything before we got there? Or is there anything you can tell us about Sarah before the attack" Jesse asked.

"No, no I don't- wait," Paulette stopped and thought for a moment before continuing, "She did have a fight with Jennie Callistano about a week before her attack. Sarah was looking after her children and Jennie got a little angry because she bought them treats. Jennie loves her kids, you see but she is really strict when it comes to them eating sweets. But, she'd never hurt Sarah, would she?"

"You said Mrs. Callistano has children?" Tripp verified, speaking now for the first time.

"Yeah, three daughters, Cindy, Dara and Daisy and a son, Michael." Paulette divulged.

"Son Michael, did she openly threat Sarah?" Horatio posed. Paulette shook her head furiously.

"No, of course not. I mean i-it was just a little tiff over some sweets. You don't think she would help Sarah's ex husband try to kill her, do you?" Paulette stressed.

"Do you?" said Horatio before swiftly leaving the room. Travers then strolled up to him with the Trace results.

"Sir?" he said in his English accent, "The fibre found in the chain links is French lace, much use in women's clothing but also it had traces of acetone and other components used in nail polish remover."

"So nail polish remover on a piece of fabric do you think that could mean gloves?" the lieutenant quizzed, not looking at his English colleague.

"It's definitely possible, although of course I'm no CSI." He agreed. Horatio nodded.

"Thank you." He then walked back into the interrogation room.

"Thank you for your help, Ms. Williams you can go now." He said. Paulette nodded and quickly made for the door. Horatio turned to Frank.

"Did we get an address on Jennie Callistano?"

"Yeah, number 123 on Sarah's road." Tripp confirmed.

"I'll go, I'll take Calleigh." Jesse said, making to leave.

"Do that." Horatio agreed.

Within the hour, Calleigh and Jesse were outside Jennie Callistano's house. Jesse looked over the street at Sarah's front door as Calleigh knocked on the door and a tall, well dressed woman with golden blonde hair answered the door.

"Jennie Callistano?" Calleigh asked.

"Yes." The woman said, suddenly confused.

"We're with the Miami Dade Crime lab and we'd like to ask you a few questions about the attack of your neighbour Sarah Pickering." Jesse informed.

"May we come in?" Calleigh inquired.

"Oh, yes of course." Jennie, who was now very worried, nodded, leading them into her house. She took them into the kitchen and made the two officers coffee as she watched her four children playing in the living room.

"What do you need to know? I thought you knew that James Pollock attacked Sarah." Jennie said.

"We have new information that tells us that a woman and her son were also at that house during the time of the attack, we also know that you had a fight with Sarah about a week before her attack." Calleigh informed her.

"W-what? You think that I hurt Sarah? She's a lovely woman." Jennie protested.

"We know," Jesse agreed, "but we have a witness that says she witnessed a fight between you and Sarah about her giving your children sweets while looking after them."

"Well, yeah we had a little disagreement because I don't like my kids eating unhealthily but I would never hurt Sarah for it. She just wanted them to have fun." Jennie assured.

"All the same, Mrs. Callistano we're gonna need a DNA sample from both you and your son," Calleigh smirked.

"Why my son? He didn't do anything wrong." Jennie snapped.

"Our evidence tells us that the son was injured and we can have a warrant to have him searched for injuries if that's what you'd prefer." Calleigh continued. Jennie sighed in defeat.

"Michael." She called, causing the small boy who resembled his mother greatly to rush over. Calleigh then took out two Q-tips and swabbed both Jennie and Michael's cheeks.

"Thank you, Mrs. Callistano and thank you Michael for your help. We'll go now. Calleigh said again as she and Jesse turned to leave. As they made out to the front yard, Calleigh turned to Jesse.

"That kid doesn't look the least bit scared in that house; I don't think his mother's been abusing him like that. I think if he had witnessed that attack he would be in some post-traumatic state." Calleigh remarked.

"I dunno I think something is definitely hinky with Jennie, if she had nothing to hide, why not just give the sample?" Jesse pointed out causing Calleigh to cock her head in apparent agreement. There was then a call from the other side of the street that caused them to turn.

"Hey, Jesse!" it was Sarah who was in her front garden taking out her trash. She waved at him and he smiled.

"Hey." He called back, and he changed his course from the hummer to Sarah with Calleigh in tow.

"Why were you at Jennie Callistano's house, is it something to do with the case?" Sarah queried.

"Sorry Sarah we can't discuss that yet but I can introduce you to my colleague here." Jesse indicated to Calleigh.

"Hi Sarah I'm Calleigh Duquesne I'm one of the CSI's assigned to your case." She smiled and shook Sarah's hand. Their hair colour was an exact match and they were both very beautiful but Calleigh could see that Sarah was still very scared.

"It's great to meet you." Sarah greeted cheerily. "And Jesse, I may need to call in that favour. There's a lot of glass in the kitchen and I'm gonna need help cleaning it up."

"Of course. I'll be over as soon as my shift's over." Jesse smiled.

"Thank you so much." Sarah beamed. "Anyway I better get back in there so I'll see you later, Jesse. It was nice meeting you Calleigh." Then she bounced cheerily back into her house.

"She's lovely." Calleigh said on their way back to the hummer, "I can't even believe anyone would want to hurt her."

"I know." Jesse agreed.

"So are you gonna dress up or down for you little clean-up date?" Calleigh smirked with her cheeky southern drawl. Jesse shook his head.

"There are only so many times I can say it's not a date." Jesse chuckled.

"Did someone beat me to it?" Calleigh asked.

"Yeah the guy working the front desk at PD." He sighed.

"Oh well that just shows how obvious it is." Calleigh says cheekily again.

"C'mon Calleigh." Jesse started, suddenly serious, "I'm not looking for a date, she really needs help and she's scared. I'm a cop; helping's what I'm here for."

"I know what cops do." Calleigh smiled, now serious too, "I just think you might creating a conflict of interest by taking sympathy from your own experience."

"Maybe so," Jesse said, understanding the blonde's gentle tone, "but I needed help then and I didn't get it so I'm not gonna let anyone else go through that."

"You're a good man Jesse." Calleigh beamed and they climbed into the hummer.

"By the way, I think she likes you." Calleigh joked again to lighten the mood as she started the car.

"Oh there is no stopping you now, is their?" Jesse chuckled as they pulled away.


End file.
